1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus of driving an agitator (for example, a rotating brush) of an upright vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to an apparatus of driving an agitator of an upright vacuum cleaner, for intermittently supplying a power to the agitator used in removing dust from a floor such as carpet, etc. in using the upright vacuum cleaner.
More particularly, when the agitator rotates with contacting a bare floor, the roughness increases on the smooth surface of the bare floor and the gloss and beauty on the surface degenerates. Thus, required is an apparatus that rotates the agitator when cleaning a floor such as a carpet that has a lot of dust but does not rotate the agitator when cleaning a smooth floor such as a bare floor according to user's will. The present invention is directed to an apparatus to intermittently supply power to the agitator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an upright vacuum cleaner is a kind of vacuum cleaners, and its use is being increased since it can be used conveniently even though the body of the vacuum cleaner is not provided separately. Especially, the body of the vacuum cleaner is provided with a dust pocket, a motor, a suction fan, etc. as separate elements. The separated elements of the cleaner cause an inconvenience in its use.
To overcome this problem, the upright vacuum cleaner sucks dust and muck on objects using a suction force generated by the motor and the fan integrated in the body. Especially, the upright vacuum cleaner has a portable suction inlet and is used in cleaning an object of a large area such as a floor and a carpet.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a general upright vacuum cleaner.
Referring to FIG. 1, an upright vacuum cleaner includes a body 10 with a handling part at its upper portion, a suction unit 11 installed at a lower portion of the body 10, for sucking air and muck, moving wheels 12 installed at a lower portion of the body so as to move the body 10, a connection pipe 13 for connecting the suction unit 11 with a unit such as a dust pocket, for transferring the air sucked from the suction unit 11 to the dust pocket, an air vent grille 14 installed at a side of the body 10, for exhausting the sucked air, and a power line 15 for supplying a power to the cleaner.
Also, the upright vacuum cleaner further includes an agitator 16 which is installed at a front lower portion of the suction unit 11 and in which a brush is wound spirally around an outer circumference thereof so that dust is removed from the floor such as a carpet and sucked, a belt 17 one end of which is wound around the agitator 16 so as to transmit a driving force to the agitator 16, and a driving shaft 18 the other end of which is wound around an outer circumference of the driving shaft 18 so as to transmit a driving force to the agitator 16.
Especially, the driving shaft 18 is usually driven by another motor separated from the main motor for driving the suction fan of the body 10 of the cleaner and generating the suction force.
According to this structure, the motor for driving the agitator 16 is provided separated from the main motor for driving the suction fan, so that the production cost for manufacturing the upright vacuum cleaner increases.
Also, a special construction in which two motors are applied is required, which makes the vacuum cleaner complicated and large in size.